AIL's Lunch in Chevy Chase

Hot off the presses, folks, from my Aunt-in-law:

The Red Hook Lobster truck came to Chevy Chase at lunch today and it was not to be missed. Lots of really, really great lobster with some shredded lettuce for crunch and a little paprika, sliced spring onions and almost no mayonnaise. Just as good as Maine and Nova Scotia. I just need a scenic ocean view and I am transported.

And may I note that she recently vacationed to Nova Scotia, so that's a fresh comparison.

Red Hook Lobster Truck

Tackle Box Update

We returned to Tackle Box a few weeks after our first visit. We encountered a very quiet restaurant at 8:30pm on a Thursday, quick service, and this time--wait for it--HOT SIDE DISHES! ***Update: I also more recently discovered that none of the sauces fit the bill for me--it's GRILLED LEMONS all the way. The heat brought out the juices, and made the half of lemon way easier to squeeze. Juice came pouring out all over my fish, and it was FANTASTIC. Also I really like the cole slaw.***

Besides our plain old exploratory nature ("Do you think they figured out how to keep the sides hot yet?"), our trip did have another purpose. And that purpose was blueberry pie.

J heard from a friend that the pie was to die for--and it should be, it's made by Heather Chittum, formerly of, frankly, a lot of places, including Citronelle. She's currently the pastry chef over at Hook, and lends her talent to little sister TB as well. The pie was amazing. It was overflowing with REAL BLUEBERRIES, not blueberry "filling" with goo and glop. Little reddish purplish blueberries were occasionally rolling around on our plate. And the crust. OH the crust.

Of course, while I ordered the slice of pie, I couldn't help but chitter chatter with the friendly manager (or manager-like gentleman), Vince. He asked how everything was going, and I told him (and now I'm telling you) that our side dishes were HOT today, the mac and cheese was less watery, and the watermelon salad (a recent addition to the seasonal sides) was divine.

We were there pretty late, and got a free brownie. It had a little crunch on the outside, and it was chewy on the inside. J noted it wasn't "too chocolate-y." I'm not aware of anything ever being "too chocolate-y."

We heard a rumor that strawberry-rhubarb and ginger-peach are in the forecast for future pie flavors. What are you waiting for?

Tackle Box
3245 M St NW
Metro: Circulator to Georgetown or Blue or Orange Lines to Foggy Bottom and take a stroll

Tackle Box

(Pre-post P.S.: We recently returned from Paris, so look forward to an upcoming postcard, but for now suffer through a slightly outdated review of a new spot)

Tackle Box is the latest Barton Seaver adventure. Turns out he's more than just one of D.C.'s Top 20 eligible bachelors, but I guess we already knew that.

TB is simple: For the Maine Meal ($13), first pick whether you're going to be good or bad (crispy or wood-grilled). Crispy could be bay scallops, calamari, pollock, shrimp, clam, or oysters. Wood-grilled includes tilapia, calamari, bluefish, rainbow trout, and a hamburger. After choosing a protein, pick your two sides (cornbread, green beans, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and many more). Lastly (although I guess you can do it whenever), choose a sauce (from classic tartar to basil walnut pesto!).

I enjoyed the wood-grilled tilapia. I picked the lemon-garlic aioli "sauce," which to me didn't seem much different than a regular old mayo. I didn't sense anything particularly lemony or garlicky about it. As a result, I barely used it, which was fine. My asparagus side would have been excellent if it was hot. The gus was perfectly charred on the outside (without being burned), and was well-seasoned. It's a shame that it was room temperature. My hushpuppies WERE hot, but I was slightly disappointed in them. Hushpuppies are essentially fried cornmeal bread (not as sweet as cornbread). I don't know if it's that the Tacklebox hushpuppies aren't up to snuff, or if I just plain old am not a hushpuppy kind of gal.

J loved the crispy (read: fried) bay scallops, which were hot and provided in a generous portion. His sweet potato fries and mac and cheese (especially the mac and cheese) would have been GREAT if they were HOT. But they were NOT. They were ROOM TEMPERATURE.

What I don't understand is how a place with only 7 hot sides and with counter service (you order, pay, get a number, they call your number when it's "up") manages to serve cold food. It's not like I'm at a table for 15 and it was sitting under a lamp or anything.

I'll for sure go back to Tackle Box. Maybe by the time I do they'll have figure out the whole temperature thing. In a nutshell, they serve cheap, fast, good quality food in trendy and somewhat unreliable Georgetown--a serious feat. You can go healthy (wood-grilled, greens/salads on the side) or not (fried, fried and more fried). While Stewart's root beer is on tap, Diet Stewart's is not (tsk, tsk).

Tackle Box
3245 M Street NW
Metro: Orange/Blue Lines to Foggy Bottom, and every other route to G-town

Hooked on Hook

I revisited Hook recently, a good idea--you may recall that my first visit was a lunch, during Restaurant Week, and not that long after this Georgetown eatery opened.

Off the bat: I could have spooned up the butter like ice cream and eaten it all, it was light and airy and extremely sweet. It may be filled with crack.

I started with the pumpkin risotto cakes on top of some sauce of pureed pumpkin. The look and texture of this dish reminded me of really crispy hash browns, in a good way! The pumpkin wasn't sweet the way you'd expect after pumpkin spice lattes and other dessert-like concoctions--the cakes were hot and savory, with delightful grilled onions topping them off, cooked to perfection. I could have had a couple more and called it a night. J noted that this appetizer was WAY better than my main dish at Restaurant 3.

J enjoyed the grilled calamari, but psst, my risotto cakes were better. The potato salad and calamari was an unexpected combination. The minty concoction on the side worked well with the calamari and was the most interesting part of the dish.

For my entree, the Sablefish was light and flaky, perfectly cooked, and well-seasoned. What i love about eating a great fish dish is it isn't too heavy and you can still have an appetizer and dessert, getting a real full meal at the restaurant and experiencing what they have to offer without feeling stuffed afterward and being rolled home. The accompaniments--roasted cauliflower was nice, and the roasted potatoes were...roasted potatoes. Fine but unnecessary.

J's mahi mahi with the butternut squash puree was---well, how was it? I know the butternut squash puree tasted good, but there was too much of it on the plate.

For dessert, a tart of paper-thin apple slices atop a buttery pastry crust with vanilla bean ice cream (I could SMELL the vanilla!) and the Tic Tac Toe--a TTT board of chocolate sauce with homemade whoopie pies and an X-shaped shortbread cookie. It was thoughtfully imagined and constructed, and certainly fun to eat. I couldn't watch it keep going by to all the other tables.

Hook is busy, and it's not that big--there seems to be an upstairs I've never been to, and a significant part of the main floor is taken up by the bar. The open floorplan (you can even see into the kitchen), cool colors, and oceanic decor makes it a comfortable space for enjoying a looong dinner. Our reservations were for 9pm, and we weren't seated until 9:25pm. Just an FYI.

Hook
3241 M Street NW
Metro: Your local bus, the Orange Line to Foggy Bottom, then walk to Georgetown, or take the Circulator from DC, or a Metro Connection (blue bus).

Hook

The Peanut Gallery should chime in here, especially the ones that dined with me at Hook. I'm not going to be subtle with you, you two.

Anyway,
How fancy am I! My new description should be Recent Diner at Hip New Georgetown Eatery.

Went to Hook for Restaurant Week and we were all very pleased! The menu had a lot of different options, both for the fish-eater and his/her potentially non-fish-eating companion.

I wasn't feeling so hot, but I wouldn't dare cancel such a prime RW lunch. Sacrifice is necessary for greatness. Food greatness, that is.

I started with a local garden salad, no frills. It was delicious! The vinaigrette had such a lovely flavor, and it wasn't overwhelming (or drenching) my vegetables. The greenery was unlike any lettuce I've ever seen--I was nervous when I first eyed it that it would taste bitter, but it didn't at all. It reminded me of a tangle of clovers. Also, unlike my lunch at PS7's, my salad had more than one pine nut in it!

My fellow diners enjoyed the beet salad and the peach and prosciutto salad. On a regular healthy day I probably would have went for the peach, too. The beets were orange, which was a fun surprise, I think. There were other various salads and two "Flight of Crudo" choices. In our educational portion of the lunch, we learned from our friendly server that crudo is a bite of raw fish usually oiled and seasoned, and the flight comes with three.

For our entrees we got the wahoo (served over corn), barracuda (not the one you're thinking of, that one is poisonous to eat--but this is still rare for a restaurant) over polenta, and MUSSELS! The orange-red sauce on the mussels was described on the menu as having some fire, but I didn't really taste any heat. They did have a delicious smoky sort of flavor that I'm not used to having with my mussels--I expect either garlicky white wine-ness or red tomatoeyness. I'm not HUGE on spicy food, but I've come to appreciate that there is a time and a place for those flavors, and these mussels could have been kicked up a little bit. The sauce was delicious, and the perfect pieces of accompanying toast work well for sopping it up.

If you or someone you know doesn't eat fish, they had a hamburger and fries on the RW menu! Hah!

The service at Hook was very prompt. While we (not impatiently) waited for our first course, someone dropped by and asked if we had received our appetizers yet. When we said no, they came about a minute later. Some confusion, but at least they were paying attention to our table. Our glasses were kept full with iced water, and on a day where the temperature probably peaked at close to 100, hydration is a priority.

The space is pretty small but doesn't seem crowded because of the high-ish ceilings and open kitchen. When you walk in you can see straight back into the kitchen, making the restaurant seem larger than it actually is. I love the art on the walls (particularly one of a clam where you can see the blue, spotted interior of the shell) and the light fixtures. The long, tall table by the bar looks like a fun place to gather with friends after work.

Gripes: It is LOUD in there. Pretty on par with Central for loudness, and this was during a pretty busy but not totally wild lunch time--I can't imagine, nor do I want to, what it sounds like when the bar is full. The bathrooms are single-stall, and more than once I saw three or four girls go at once, only to realize it's just one, and then wait outside. Luckily, the bathroom has its own little enclave so the waiting people weren't hovering over another table.

Hook
www.hookdc.com
3241 M Street NW
Metro: Take the bus, Circulator, walk from Foggy Bottom on the Blue/Orange line, or take a shuttle from Foggy Bottom or Rosslyn station.